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Friday, August 19, 2016

RAW DEAL FOR FORCES: GOVT MUST SET RIGHT PAY PANEL FOLLIES - BY MAJOR NAVDEEP SINGH (RETD)

There can be no dispute with the fact that members of the military
community have had some major misgivings with the recommendations of
the Seventh Central Pay Commission. The incoherent report has added multiple
anomalies to the pre-existing list of unresolved issues
affecting pay, allowances and pensions of the defence services.

While a debate on the subject is more than welcome, one needs to
be cautious that the surrounding cacophony must not result into a schism or a
feeling of ‘us’ and ‘they’ between various services since every
government employee, uniformed or otherwise, serves the same flag and no cog of
our large national wheel is more or less important than the other.

The Government must, therefore, ensure that before finally
implementing the contentious recommendations, a participative decision-making
process is initiated to ensure resolution to the satisfaction of all
stakeholders so that decisions are not taken at the back of various sections of
employees based on one-way inputs of only those who happen to
have the ear of the higher echelons.

SHRILL VOICES AND
THEIR DELETERIOUS EFFECT

Many members of different Government services, including those
from the military, have taken tough positions in public overemphasising their
importance and value over others. There was a time when mature public
servants fully understood that all professions and services had their
own roles to play in building India as a whole and irrespective
of remuneration, there was no superior-inferior relationship between them.

It therefore appears quite unsettling when some retired
officers of the military take on the debate on social media and other
forums purely with emotions coupled with rhetoric and the plank
of tough life while trying to prove that the sacrifice of
other services is not as important or central to the national
narrative, forgetting in the bargain that such broad arguments do little
to ameliorate the situation and on the contrary widen the rift, a
situation which is not in national interest.

For example, while a young Lieutenant of the
Army manning a remote post has a tough job cut out for him, the
life of his IAS counterpart who may be posted as a
Sub-Divisional Magistrate would also not be entirely
stress-free or easy since at a young age he would be performing
executive, quasi-judicial, revenue and magisterial functions for an entire
sub-division.

So also would be the case of a young
Assistant Superintendent of Police from the IPS who would
be looking after the law and order of his area as the sub-divisional
police officer overlooking multiple police stations in his jurisdiction.

While all three jobs are important in their own ascribed
roles and equally paid for at the beginning, it serves no good to pit one
against the other or pass disparaging comments. Similar is the case at other
levels, for example Constables of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) who
face almost the same hardships as those joining as Sepoys in
the Army. With this disclaimer, let me take the next step.

THE CHAIRPERSON’S
STATEMENT

While various services are performing different duties, that
of course does not mean that there could be a vast variation in how they are
paid. It was therefore surprising and one was taken aback to hear the
Chairperson of the Seventh Pay Commission state in a
recorded interview on a TV debate that there could be no comparison
between the defence and the civil services.

Surprising since in Para 6.1.3, the pay commission itself talks of
historical and traditional parities between the two, in Para
6.1.4 it specifically lists out the parity of defence services with
the IPS and other Class I (now known as Group A) services, in Para
7.2.52 again the report reiterates the parity with the
police. And taken aback because the opinion of
the Chairperson did not match the legal reality whereas the
whole report is based on the premise and the fundamentals of parity.

While a high level committee of the Government formed after the
Fifth Pay Commission laid down (and subsequently implemented) that the pay
of an IPS officer in his 14th year
of service should be equal to a military officer with similar
service, the Seventh Pay Commission has
placed even a military officer with 28 years of service at
a disadvantage compared to an IPS officer with 14 years of service,
an anomaly later rectified to an extent by the Government.

The situation therefore reflects a total mismatch and
with the job of the pay commission now over, the ball therefore has rolled
towards the court of the Government to address this chaos. While
a little here and there does not make much of a difference, it is the net
result that has been troubling a vast majority, in the backdrop of which comes
my next point.

PRACTICAL ANOMALIES

While I stand by my disclaimer of due respect to each service, I
also sincerely believe that allowances for hardship must not be so
grossly off the mark that these create bitterness between
various services. In the same vein, I do stand by the rationalisation of
such allowances even if other Government employees need to be
enhanced up to the level of the military in case it is felt that
in similar circumstances or terrain, there is a wide difference between the two
classes.

But more often than not, due to various reasons,
what practically happens is that while the anomalies of other
employees do get resolved and they are able to attain the ‘military level’, the
allowances of the military stagnate resulting in a lower payout
ultimately.

Here are a few examples from this Pay Commission. Officers of the
All India Services (Indian Administrative, Police and Forest
Services) of the cadres of the North Eastern States were eligible for
12.5% of Special Disturbed Area Allowance plus 25% AdditionalMonetary
Incentive (a whopping 37.5% total over and above the basic pay in NE). This
allowance has been rationalized at 30% in total by this pay
commission and is applicable to all such officers posted in
the said area and to Ladakh.

Let us ignore the labyrinth of the rules and figures for a moment
and take a look at the hard facts — the net result is that a Brigadier posted
at Leh would now be entitled to an allowance of
about Rs 10,000 while his IPS counterpart in
the same area would draw approximately Rs 55,000. Similar would
be the case in Guwahati. While in Shillong the civil
officer would continue to draw about Rs 55,000, the Army
counterpart would get zero.

I am not suggesting for a moment that civilians do not deserve
it, I am only saying that these figures need to be
rationalised based on hardship and not just for officers of the All
India Services vis-a-vis the Armed Forces but for all other
Central Government employees who have been recommended an SDA at a
total of dismal 10%.

Similarly, instead of showing sensitivity towards the
deteriorating health profile of the military due to the inherent stress
and strain of service which decreases their life span by almost
a decade as compared to civil employees, the pay commission has cast aspersions
on the officer cadre of the defence services, stating that more percentage
of officers are in receipt of disability pension than jawans,
forgetting the very basic fact that while jawans start
retiring in their 30s, officers retire in 50s and hence naturally the
scope of health problems would increase at a higher age and with a
longer length of service.

The recommendations of the Commission for
disability pension were also quite bewildering, and the following
table adequately reflects the same:

(100% Disability)Rank

Current rates as on
date under the 6th CPC

Rates now proposed
by the 7th CPC

Lt Gen

Rs 52560 (100%
disability)

Rs 27000 (100%
disability)

Head of Central
Armed Police Force

Rs 52560 (100%
disability)

Rs 67500 (100%
disability)

Can the above escape even an untrained eye? This brings
me to the next level of thought as to what can be the solution!

WHAT SHOULD THE
GOVERNMENT DO?

Thankfully, these were only recommendations
by the Commission and are not binding upon the Government which has
in fact not accepted many of the bizarre ones.

However, now that anomaly committees have been constituted,
without, as always, any representation of the military, it is
incumbent upon the Government to ensure that no injustice is caused
to the uniformed or
any other services merely because of lack of
presence at the decision-making level.

The bane of decision-making process in our country is the
propelling of incorrect inputs from below to the top which
results in decisions being taken based on a one-way file noting
method rather than a collegiate brainstorming manner enforced with the
desired top-down approach.

The Govt &the committees must ensure that
issues are discussed in a participative democratic manner wherein
representatives of the defence services and even individual experts are
confronted with the views and inputs being dis- cussed so that
rebuttals, if any, or the correct positions can be put across there
and then, in real time.

This is one sphere where the Pay Commission massively faltered.
While it did provide adequate opportunity of interaction to
the defence services and veterans, it merely relied upon (and
recorded in the report) the data and perhaps personal opinions of an
officer of the DAD attached to it without seeking
clarifications or rebuttal from the defence services or even the Ministry of
Defence.

One can only be more secure about justice being rendered
to the subject in case a proper opportunity of hearing and rebuttal
is provided to all stakeholders. And this is
where the political executive has to take a call and impose
its political will for a well-rounded outcome.

CHARITY (ALSO)
BEGINS AT HOME

While I started this opinion piece with my disagreement
with shrill voices directed towards other services by members of the military
community who blame the bureaucracy and the political executive for the
constant loss of sheen of the military rank in the society
as a whole, I honestly feel that the problem is compounded by the
fact that even the military is responsible for the degradation of
military in the society and also accountable, paradoxically, that many
benefits do not reach its own rank and file.

The defence establishment itself posts
senior military officers in junior appoint-ments thereby not only
affecting their self esteem but also sending a wrong message to civilian
counterparts. While the defence establishment has been (rightly)
crying hoarse over denial of the concept
of Non-Functional Upgradation to its officers, they themselves
blocked another scheme called the DACP Scheme for its uniformed doctors while all
Government departments and even the CAPFs implemented it.

The DACP was sternly opposed by
the military top brass even after a favourable judicial
verdict on the strange and silly pretext that higher pay to doctors would
upset its command and control, and by the time the military relented
and realised its folly, the Ministry of Defence took a cue and
stalled it on the ground that the military was against it.

So it seems that while the military was comfortable with
junior civil doctors drawing higher pay but not its own
doctors. I also chanced upon an angry mail directed towards
the Government by a released Short Service Commissioned Officer who
lamented the lack of pension or even a contributory pension scheme for such
officers released with spells of service going up to 14
years whereas civil employees if released by the Government with 10 years
of service were entitled to pension.

However, what the officer probably was not
aware of was that despite being aware
of this immense inconsistency, the military itself never
projected such a case to the pay commission and perhaps even the
need for contributory pension to such officers has not found
favour with some chosen few within the military itself based on
some vague reasons. Hence there remains no question of venting anger
towards the Government or even the pay commission.

In the Military Engineering Service, senior Army officers are
being posted to (and are hankering after) appointments which are
held by civilian counterparts four rungs junior. Headquarters are overstaffed with
senior ranks performing duties which could be performed by ranks
other than officers and then we hear talk of the loss of status of the
military when the military itself projects a wrong civil-military
equivalence to the environment.

Without pointing fingers at others, the military
hierarchy must instil some positivity and democratic processes within
their own systems since charity, as they
say, definitely begins at home. Senior officers of the Army
must, under assumed identities, try engaging with various regimental record
offices which deal with veterans and military widows and I am sure the results
would not be so encouraging since far from the rosy picture being projected to
the senior staff, it is difficult even to get a reply from such offices unless
it is through a VIP reference or the RTI or through a legal notice or
Court case.

Multiple decades into independence and we have not been able to
put into place a simple system which makes it mandatory for every such office
to at least reply to every single letter, mail or query received. Ask any
person of lower ranks who is retiring from the Army and what he is
made to go through in what is known as the ‘discharge drill’ at
various regimental centres. Ask them about uniformed ‘babus’.

Though the current crop of officers in key appointments dealing
with pay and allowances is well aware, hardworking and attuned to the reality,
the military must overcome its own inter-service obstacles and
display positivity and magnanimity when it comes to its own. It has a
long way to go, unlike, for example, the CAPFs which despite being
headed by non-cadre officers, are able to put up a joint front
displaying no crab mentality and no peer jealously. And it gets them their dues,
which is what matters in the end.

EPILOGUE

Fully aware of the short attention span of readers, while I
was not wanting to shun the virtue of brevity, there was no way but to
place my thoughts on this subject in a detailed
manner appended with some facts in order to transparently
convey that the matter is not rudimentary but
fairly complex since it arises out of an interplay of various
agencies and events including this pay commission, past pay
commissions,past mistakes, the government and the military itself.

That said, all services of the Government exist for the public and
it would be the greatest disservice to our nation if these limbs do not
work in tandem or if they remain deployed in inter-service hostility. It
is time the political executive searches for and finds a solution in order to
ensure that no service is burdened with the feeling of being the child of a
lesser god.

(The writer is a practicing Advocate at the Punjab & Haryana High Court. He was the founding President of the Armed Forces Tribunal Bar Association at Chandigarh. He is a Member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War at Brussels.)

(Source- ABP News) (Disclaimer: The
opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum
participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions,
beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.)

I have been watching and reading your article carefully , you attempt to strike balance between two wings civil and military, neutrally ,not one sided, many officers should derive some common points from your column, as both wheel of train equivalent and symmetrical in running rolling stock. it is my humble suggestion to my mind and understanding I am writing, may be right or wrong, with regard to hardship allowances, jawans are exposing themselves to the horrible nature and facing them bravely, that hardship allowances should be rationalised, need not to be indexed basic pay or variables to different ranks, yet another think disability pension, loss of arm or amputated limbs soldier's body is not made of wood lowly paid, I underscore this core area should be at par

Everyone should listen, the real lion roar. Feeling Proud about Indian Army. THE WORDS OF A INDIAN COMMANDO. Please share if you respect our Brave Soldier. Jaihind Copy Paste and click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XubpeihSXw

The terms of reference of the pay commission is well known, to recommend what can be given to the GS within the financial capability of the govt. So the commission worked. Now let us see what will be the addl benifit for the veterans apart from 2.57 MF when its final implementation takes place. The updated information regarding it, if anybody can give through the blogspot like this would be very useful to the veterans. Those strength is less (like officers) possibly get as per their part of anomalies. To do and to speak something for mass needs courage. It is the well known phenomenon.

I follow the OROP debate closely on TV Shows. They are debates about Defence officers vs. IAS/IPS officers. There is no mention about JCOs/ORs, except "soldiers soldiers". You have aptly pointed out the mindset of officers. As you said, charity begins at home. Officers should emulate your thoughts. Thanks for highlighting the cause of below-officer ranks.

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